lunes, febrero 23, 2015

New York State Paleontologist

I am sending this informal announcement of an anticipated job opportunity to make it more widely known. The forthcoming official announcement may appear only on the NY State Civil Service web site and that of the Geological Society of America. It is not expected to appear on the NYS Museum page nor on that of the State Education Department. Moreover, the window of opportunity is expected to be narrow, with a candidate to be selected by April 26.

Ed has also learned that the position is expected to be listed at Grade 27, which should pay ca. $90,000. He notes that this would be a fine job for a research-oriented person who would be prepared to do a significant proportion of his or her research in NY State and/or on the museum’s substantial existing collections.

Ed Landing has not seen the job description, but he has set out his personal ideas as to what the job entails, based on his own experience, as follows. Please bear in mind that this more or less what Ed expects to be announced, but he should by no means be held responsible for its accuracy. The following is absolutely unofficial, just the expectations of the State Paleontologist, Emeritus.

State Paleontologist

The New York State Museum is looking for a candidate to fill the position of State Paleontologist. Candidates for this tenure track position, which has a strong collections-based (curatorial) component (in my career), will have a PhD, a record of independent research as indicated by peer reviewed publications, and a record of or willingness to apply for competitive research and collections-based funding. Work or experience with the care, conservation, exhibit use, and public/professional use of paleontology collections is desireable (in my experience). The State Museum has a large (ca. one million specimen), dominantly Paleozoic, research oriented paleontology collection with materials that range from sedimentary rocks to protistans to bony fish, fossil plants, and trace fossils from New York, 33 other states, and 35 foreign countries. Parts of the collection that have not been the ! object of modern research (during my tenure) include large coral, brachiopod, bryozoan, trilobite, and graptolite subcollections, and most of the mollusc groups, and these materials could provide the basis for paleobiological syntheses. Modest in-house funding is available for research and collections work. ​Ad hoc aspects of the (my) job have been public outreach, exhibits writing and contributions, answering tax payer requests for information or specimen identification, collaboration with other museum geologists and biologists, service to the profession, etc.